Prewelt shoe manufacture



1} 1944! E. L. sAwYER 2,354,337

} PREWELT SHOE MANUFACTURE Filed Dec. 17, 194] Patented Aug. 1, 1944 UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE .PRE-WELT' SHOE MANUFACTURE Edward Sawyer. 'Washington. D'. 0., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 17, 1941', Serial No. 423,264

1 Claim: (01.12-142) This invention relates to themanufacture of prewelt shoes and is herein illustrated in its application to methods of holding a prewelt upper in pulled-over position on a last.

It is usual practice in the manufacture of pre- 'welt shoes to secure the forepart of the prewelt upper in pulled-over position on the last by means of tacks driven through the welted margin of the upper and into the bottom of the last.- The driving of these tacks and their removal upon the completion of the'lastin operation, constitute a considerable item in the labor cost entering into the manufacture of this shoe. These tacks must be driven between the weltattaching seam and the inner edge of the welt in order that the tack holes will not be seen in the finished shoe and by reason of the very limited space in which the tacks may be driven, it frequently happens that one of these tacks severs the welt-attaching seam. Inasmuch as this is a chainstitch seam, any pressure by the foot of the wearer on the upper in the region of the break is likely to cause a considerable number of stitches adjacent to the break to loosen, thus irreparably crippling the shoe. The use of tacks is also objectionable because of the damage to the last bottom caused by the constant driving of tacks into substantially the same spots on the last. The damage thus caused to the last must be frequently repaired at a substantial cost to the shoe manufacturer.

It is an object of the present invention to do away with the use of tacks in the prewelt pulling-over operation. More specifically, the object is to provide a method of making prewelt shoes in which the upper will be held in pulled-over position on the last without the use of fastenings or the performance of any operation to secure the upper in pulled-over position.

With the above objects in view, the invention comprises a method of making prewelt shoes which consists in stitching a. welt to the margin of an upper, in the course of the stitching operation securing the opposite ends of an elastic band to the welted margin at opposite sides of the shank portion of the upper, said band in its normal contracted position being shorter than the width of the shank portion of the bottom of the form on which the upper is to be lasted, mounting the upper on the last, pulling the toe end of the upper over the last, employing the tension of the elastic band to hold the upper in pulled over position on the last, and while the position of the upper on the last is maintained by the band lasting the upper and completing the shoe.

. The illustrated band is a piece of elasticized fabric but, it will be understood that it matters little what material the band is made of as long as its contractile reaction to expansion exerts a pull strong enough to draw the welted margin atopposite sides of the shank portion of the shoe in against the inwardly curved side portions of the last, and strong enough to hold the side por tions oi the upper in inwardly drawn position after the pulling-over operation has been completed and untilthe upper has been lasted.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating the preferred construction and arrangement of elastic means connecting opposite sides of a prewelt upper.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a bottom view illustrating a prewelt upper held in pulled-over position on a last by an elastic connector;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the upper of Fig. 1 as it appears before it is mounted on a last; and

Fig. 3 is a section on the line IIIIII of Fig. 1.

The illustrated prewelt upper is of usual construction. The upper In (Fig. 2) is provided with a welt I2 extending about the entire periphery of the bottom margin of the upper, said welt being secured to the upper by a chainstitch seam M in accordance with the usual practice.

In the course of the welt-attaching operation, a band of elastic fabric 16 is secured by the weltattaching stitches to the inner surface of the bottom margin of the upper at opposite sides of the shank portion of the upper. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the band I 6 is arranged to extend widthwise of the shoe and its opposite margins l8 are upturned and so positioned that the edges of said band coincide with the inner edges of the welt l2. When the band I6 is in its normal contracted position, those portions of the welt at opposite sides of the shank are held closer to each other than they are located in the finished shoe. Thus, in inserting the last 20, illustrated in Fig. 3, into'the upper, the elastic band is expanded somewhat. The contractile reaction of the elastic band to its expansion will, of course, urge the welted margin at opposite sides of the shank inwardly toward the center of the last bottom. It will be seen that in urging the welted margin inwardly, the band creates or maintains an inward curvature in the welted margin at opposite sides of the upper. Thus, the toe and heel portions of the ing to the extent required to admit the last into I g the upper.

The last with the upper mounted thereon is then supported on a bench spindle and the forepart of the upper is pulled-over the last in i any convenient manner, for example, by means of the usual hand lasting pincers. welt I2 is slightly shorter than the periphery of Inasmuch as the g extend in straight lines from the heel to the ball portion of the last bottom after the pulling-over operation and the forepart of the welted margin of the upper would not be drawn inwardly over the bottom margin of the last by the tension of the welt and fastenings would be required to hold the upper in pulled-over position on the last.

The width of the elastic band l6 and its exact location lengthwise of the upper are not important, the only requirement being that a portion of the band be located at the narrowest point in the shank portion of the shoe bottom in order that the welted margin at that point will be drawn in tightly against the last.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim'as new and desire to secure by Letters the bottom face of the last, the elastic band l6,

urging the welted margin in against the inwardly curved side portions of the last bottom, will take up the slack created in the welted margin by the pulling-over operation and will hold the welt in taut condition on the last thereby holding the welted margin at the toe end of the upper in over the margin of the last bottom. Thus, it will be seen that the forepart of the upper will be held in pulled-over position on the last by the tension of the band l6 and no tacks or other fastening means will be required to secure the welted margin in position for the lasting operation. Conversely, it will also be understood that if the upper were not provided with the band IS the opposite side portions of the welted margin of the upper would Patent of the United States is:

' That method of making prewelt shoes comprising stltching a welt to the margin of an upper, in the course of the stitching operation securing the opposite ends of an elastic band to the welted EDWARD L. SAWYER. 

